The AARP threw the weight of its 35 million members
behind a Senate bill on Wednesday that would allow people
to legally import lower-priced drugs from Canada and
other foreign countries.

“It’s no longer a question of whether we should
allow the importation of drugs from abroad,” the group
representing middle-aged and older Americans said in a
statement posted to its Web site. “It’s already happening
on a large scale. Millions of AARP members and others are
buying drugs from other countries. We need to legalize
this, and make sure that a system is in place to
guarantee safety.”

The drug bill’s main authors, Senators Byron Dorgan
(D., North Dakota) and Olympia Snowe (R., Maine), said
the endorsement is a huge boost to the measure. However,
the AARP and lawmakers are up against the equally
powerful pharmaceutical industry, which is opposed to all
legislation that would allow consumers to import drugs.
Lawmakers also only have about 40 legislative days
remaining this year.

Senator John McCain (R., Arizona), a supporter of
the Dorgan-Snowe bill, said lawmakers would try to attach
it to another piece of legislation moving through the
Senate, according to Dow Jones.

Bill Novelli, AARP’s chief executive, said in a
separate
Web site statement
that the legislation isn’t perfect, but if enacted it
would put downward pressure on American drug prices. He
said the AARP is establishing a major advertising
campaign in support of the bill and plans to lobby
lawmakers who haven’t yet signed on to it. The
Dorgan-Snowe bill, which has 23 co-sponsors, would give
the FDA jurisdiction to regulate drugs coming into the
U.S. and would require importers to register with the FDA
and be subject to FDA inspections.